Would you want to marry yourself? Most of us probably don’t think about this but you might want to if you have teenagers.
Why? They are getting closer and closer to that time of making a lifetime commitment. And the chances are pretty high they will choose someone similar to their same-sex parent.
It’s an interesting thing to consider. Although my 18-year-old son is nowhere near ready to get married, he does talk about the traits he would like in a wife. Many of them are similar to mine.
Hopefully he will bypass the negative one in me when it comes to picking a wife. But the reality is that who we are could very well be the type of person our child eventually marries.
Now that can be a scary thought or it might bring you a sense of hope. I guess it depends on what you think of yourself.
What this gets me thinking about is the importance of striving to be the best person I can possibly be. Not perfect. Not without flaws. But I do want to grow in character.
I believe it takes a great deal of humility to be a strong influence in our teen’s lives. We have to be willing to own up to our mistakes, to those things we need to change. Yet we need to feel secure in the good parts of who we are.
This not only impacts the future choice of our teens’ mates but it can affect the way they view themselves. If you expect perfection out of yourself, they will do the same. If you can learn to laugh at some of your stupid mistakes, they will too.
Since we are nearing the end of the year, maybe it’s the perfect opportunity to think about changes we can make in 2013. Because the more we grow as a person, the better the chance our teen will one day pick a mate we can feel good about.